© France Assos Santé/Sida Info Rights
By Jean-François Laforgerie
The 2023 Health Info Rights Observatory: data and trends
The 2023 France Assos Santé Observatory on patients’ rights is available. This annual publication takes stock of requests from the Santé Info Droits information line, one of the best tools for advice and support in health law. This year, the line received 10,500 requests, a record. On what subjects, particularly for people affected by HIV and HBV? News seen by Remaides takes stock.
Nearly 10,500 requests, “unheard of”
Every fall, France Assos Santé publishes its Observatory on patients’ rights (data from the previous year). The one processing the 2023 data has just to go out. The document, also called the Santé Info Droits annual report, is based on requests received by the helpline. For 2023, the record is broken with, to be precise, 10,499 requests, including 7,921 calls (i.e. an increase of 12% compared to 2022) and 2,578 emails (i.e. an increase of 67% compared to 2022). ). Calls are long. “Although the duration of calls decreased after the Covid years, it nevertheless remains at a high level, reaching almost 17 minutes on average per telephone interview, i.e. a time significantly longer than the years which preceded the period of the pandemic,” explains The 2023 Observatory. Emails have increased significantly; Santé Info Droits responds within eight working days.
About the calls
Covid-19 had greatly influenced the content of the solicitations. Data from 2023 indicate a return to “more traditional” activity. Concerns about the rights of patients in their use of the health system remain the primary subject of questioning with nearly 45% of requests. This is followed by health issues related to work (13.6% of requests), replacement income in the event of sick leave or disability (11.6%), access to and coverage of healthcare. (10.5%), disability, old age and dependency (7%). Requests concerning insurance and loans represent 5.7% of requests; a drop of – 18.5%. This “significant decline in questions relating to insurance and loans (…) is explained by economic news and the drop in real estate transactions due to the increase in interest rates, and possibly also the evolution of the legislation, with the Lemoine law, which eliminates health questionnaires for loans below a certain amount,” says the Santé Info Droits team.
“In terms of development, certain progressions can be explained by current legislative and regulatory developments. This is the case, for example, with questions relating to retirement and unemployment, directly linked to government reforms or reform projects. Likewise, for the disability pension. The publication in 2023 of the amending decree of 2022, on the capping of the cumulative resources/disability pension, had significant repercussions last year,” explains L’Observatoire 2023. The Social Security disability pension made the subject of 623 requests. The figure is 1,419 for medical accidents, 890 for access to medical records, and 781 for the terms and levels of support by Social Security.
Requests related to HIV and hepatitis B
The requests for HIV/AIDS concerned 31.5% insurance and loans, 20.7% the rights of patients, 11.7% access and management of care, 6.3% work, for 5.4% disability, for 5.4% retirement, unemployment, RSA and other benefits not linked to health, for 3.6% personal rights and for 2.7% replacement income in the event of sick leave or disability, old age or disability.
For hepatitis, the requests were distributed as follows: 40% patients’ rights, 20% work, 20% insurance and loans.
How to contact Santé Info Droits?
Santé Info Droits is above all a legal and social information line which provides each person who requests it with “individualized and precise responses, in a context where too often the succession, or even the multiplicity of legislative texts makes it difficult to read and understand the rights to which we are entitled. The line was created by the Interassociative Health Collective (CISS), now France Assos Santé (FAS), bringing together around a hundred associations of sick people, elderly people, retirees, people with disabilities, consumers and of family associations.
The Santé Info Droits telephone line is accessible every afternoon: Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., and Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., at 01 53 62 40 30, at the rate of one call normal. It is also possible to ask questions by email via and form.
